Promise?
by rando-weirdo
Summary: Toothy's had a crush on Cuddles for a while. But when he gets back together with Giggles, Toothy is left trying to convince himself to move on. He tries to take a chance with Lifty, who starts to take things too far. Unsure of the relationship he's in, Toothy is left with two options. Stay, or confess how he feels. (Toothy x Cuddles) T: Cursing, suggestive theme, smoking, & drugs.
1. Ch 1: Why Not?

"Maybe I should go." Toothy said nervously.

"Look, if you're worried I'm gonna go off and tell somebody, you don't know me that well." Sniffles sat in the arm chair across from Toothy's. "Besides, if it makes you feel better, I'm required under law not to."

Toothy sighed, reluctantly slouching into the other chair. To be honest, that actually did make him feel better…. But it still felt weird that he was about to explain his life's issues to someone he hasn't even seen outside of class.

"Well…for starters." Toothy started. "When I was on a date with Lifty, He-"

"Lifty?" Sniffles interrupted. "I apologize to cut you off, but I assumed that this discussion was about your feelings for Cuddles?"

"C-Cuddles? Well, umm.." Toothy could feel his face turning red. "You see...I did have-…. Hell, I still have a crush on him, but he got back together with Giggles a couple of weeks ago."

It'd be one thing if it was someone actually nice like Flaky, or someone like that, but Giggles, geez. At least Flaky would never have the audacity to cheat on Cuddles! And to take her back after all that!

"I'm sorry to hear that." Sniffles said, breaking Toothy's train of thought. "So, how about we start from the beginning then and get me caught up? Maybe starting with how you and Lifty got together?"

"Oh, yeah... Well, it all started last week." Toothy began. 

-Last week-

Toothy sat down in the cafeteria, like he always does, and waited for Cuddles to join him. He was eating until he felt someone behind him.

"Oh hey Cudd-" Toothy turned around to see a green raccoon behind him. "…oh"

"I'm sorry. Did I disappoint you?" Lifty asked.

"Sorry, I'm not really in the mood to be scammed today."

"No, no, no, you got it all wrong." Lifty sat down beside Toothy. "I'm here because I want to ask you out."

Toothy raised an eyebrow "I'm sorry... What?"

"Look, we all know you have the hots for Cuddles, and-" Lifty started.

"What!? I don't-" Toothy exclaimed.

"Yes, yes you do, and don't even ask how I know, I have my ways." Lifty explained. "Anyway, as I was saying, we also know that you absolutely have no shot with him whatsoever, even if he wasn't with Giggles."

"Hey!" Toothy yelled.

"What? Do you really think I'm wrong? I mean, first of all, I pretty sure he's straight as a board. Second, you two have been friends for how many years? You really want to ruin all that with a confession?" Lifty pointed out.

Toothy looked away. Everything Lifty said was true, and it was nothing that he hadn't already thought to himself. It was just different hearing someone saying them out loud.

"Ok, fine, you got me. But even with all those things said, why the hell would I go out with you?"

"I'm glad you asked" Lifty continued. "Well, first, I'm sure being with me would be better than sitting here being depressed. Second, when was the last time you even dated…well, anybody? I mean you got to get your feet wet at some point. And third, well, look at me." Lifty gestured to himself.

Toothy eyed him, it's true he wasn't the worst looking guy in the world. However, it was normally his personality that made him a turn off. But who knows, maybe he acted different around the people he cares about. Fuck it, the last time he even had anything close to a date is when he kissed Petunia in middle school during Romeo and Juliet.

"…..Fine." Toothy finally said.

"Sweet! See you Friday after school?" Lifty offered.

"Sure." Toothy said as Lifty left, what the hell was he getting himself into?


	2. Ch 2: First Date

Cuddles walked up to the table and sat down "Was that Lifty?" Toothy jumped to Cuddles' voice. "I'm sorry, did I scare you?" Cuddles chuckled.

"No!... ok, maybe." Toothy turned around to face Cuddles. "And yeah, it was. He….. He just asked me out."

"I'm sorry, I misheard you, I almost thought you said Lifty just asked you out."

"He did….and, umm, I said yes." Toothy muttered.

"What?! You know he's probably trying to scam you or something." Cuddles exclaimed.

"You don't know that, I'm sure he could be nice if he wanted!"

"Whoa, sorry. I didn't realize you actually had feelings for him." Cuddles apologized.

"No, I'm sorry…. I guess I'm just trying to convince myself more than anything." Toothy paused for a second. "You know.…t-to be honest…..I didn't think the Lifty part would've been the part that you would be questioning."

"Huh?... oh…You mean the fact that he's a guy?" Cuddles questioned.

Toothy nodded.

"Well," Cuddles continued "To be fair, I kind of suspected it for a bit. I'm just glad you're getting out there, you know?"

"What do you mean you've suspected it!?" Toothy exclaimed.

"I mean, ever since that one middle school play, you were the only one not head over heels about kissing Petunia." Cuddles explained. "Hell, if anything I'd say you were more traumatized by the experience than anything." He laughed.

"Hey! She tasted like hand sanitizer and mint, ok?! I still can't use mouthwash without reliving the experience!" Toothy stuck out his tongue in disgust. This only made Cuddles laugh more.

"All jokes aside. If Lifty treats you like shit, just tell me and I'll kick his ass, ok?" Cuddles reassured.

"Ok, yeah, I'll remember that."

"You better." Cuddles lightly punched Toothy's arm. "So do you two have a date planned or..."

"We're doing something after school Friday."

"Cool, well, text me about it when you're done, ok?" Cuddles finished up his food and waved as he headed back to class, "See you later."

"Ok, will do." Toothy waved back and headed back to class himself.

-Friday-

Toothy was waiting outside the school for what seemed like an eternity. He looked down at his watch, "Geez, its already been an hour. Where the hell is he?" Soon after Lifty finally walked out.

"About time. HEY, LIFTY, OVER HERE!" Toothy waved to get his attention.

"Huh? Oh." Lifty walked over. "Hey, sorry I got a little held up talking to somebody. You weren't waiting long, right?"

"Uh, no, not at all." Toothy lied.

"Sweet, you want to get something to eat, I'm starving." Lifty suggested.

"Sure, maybe we could go to that new pizza place down the street?"

"That'll do!" Lifty said eagerly.

An hour passes and Lifty has done nothing but talk about himself. "but then-" Lifty took another bite of his pizza. "but then again, I could probably do it better than my idiot of a brother."

"Uh-huh" Toothy murmured. Soon after Flaky came by with the check.

"H-here your check, f-feel free the pay whenever you're ready." She stuttered as she slipped away.

Lifty patted his pockets. "Shit….uh Hey, Toothy? It seems I forgot my wallet. Do you mind.…you know?" Lifty gestured to the bill.

Toothy eyed the check, "I guess I don't really have a choice do I?" He uttered to himself as pulled out his wallet.

"Sweet, you're the best." Lifty leaned back and finished his slice.

Toothy rolled his eyes, this was probably his plan from the start. After this he'll probably slink away, never to be seen again.

"So Toothy" Lifty started. Yep, here it comes. "You wanna hang out at my place after this?"

Toothy was stunned for a moment. "What?"

"Yeah, you know, I do kinda feel bad about the whole wallet thing and I want to make it up to you."

"Oh, I mean, yeah, that sounds good." Toothy smiled. Ok, maybe he was wrong about Lifty after all.

"Sweet." Lifty grinned.


	3. Ch 3: Lifty's Place

-Later at Lifty's place-

"So here it is." Lifty gestured to the run-down duplex. "Now I know it's not much, but trust me, the inside's much better." Lifty opened the door and they walked in…..It wasn't. With all the clutter and trash, you could barely see the floor. It also didn't help that the whole place smelled like cigarette sm-

"HEY SHIFTY, YOU FUCK!" Lifty yelled, making Toothy jump.

"WHAT HELL DO YOU WANT?!" Shouted the twin from some unknown location.

"DIDN'T I TELL YOU TO LOCK THE FUCKIN DOOR WHEN YOU COME IN?! I'M NOT LOOSING ANOTHER T.V. BECAUSE YOUR SORRY ASS FORGOT TO LOCK THE DOOR!" Lifty shouted back.

"NO ONE CARES ABOUT YOUR STUPID T.V., YOU IGNORANT SHIT!"

Lifty turned to Toothy. "Just go ahead and head to my room. It's down the hall to the left. I'll be there shortly."

"Uh..ok?" Toothy headed down the hall while Lifty stormed off to, where he assumed to be Shifty's room. Toothy closed the door behind him to drown out some of the loud bickering between the twins. He sat on the bed and examined the room he had just placed himself in.

The room was just as unkempt as the rest of the house. Piles of clothes littered the floor as dishes and take-out boxes littered, well basically everything else. Across the room sat an old analog T.V. with a pair of antennas jutting out the top. At least the bed was somewhat comfortable, despite a few small cigarette burns here and there on the covers. Soon Toothy realized that Lifty's voice was getting closer.

"OH JUST GO FUCK YOURSELF!" Lifty opened the door. "Hey, sorry about that, I swear it's not like that all the time." For some reason he doubted that. Lifty closed the door behind him and sat down beside Toothy.

"So… How'd you like our date?" Lifty asked.

"Well, it was…interesting."

"I know, I am pretty interesting, aren't I?" Lifty said with a smug grin as he inched closer and put a hand on Toothy's thigh.

"Uhhh, y-yeah, you could say that." Toothy tried his best to avoid eye contact.

"By the way, I still need to re-pay you for dinner." Lifty pulled Toothy close and started kissing his neck.

"WOAH!" Toothy tried to push Lifty away. "H-hey, It's only the first date! D-Don't you think we should, you know, m-maybe take it slow?"

"Not really, I mean I'm cool with it." Toothy suddenly found himself pinned to the bed with Lifty trying to force his tongue into Toothy's mouth.

"MMM-!" Toothy pushed back, "What the hell!?"

Lifty pinned him back down and went back to kissing Toothy's neck. "Just relax and you'll start to enjoy it~" Lifty started running his hand down Toothy's stomach.

"Look, Lifty, I don't know!" Lifty ran his hand lower. "Hey, Lifty, stop!" Soon Lifty started slipping his hand under Toothy's pants. "I SAID STOP!" Toothy pushed himself up and out from under Lifty.

"Hey, what's you're deal?! I'm just trying to give you a good time." Lifty argued.

"Well, maybe I don't want to 'have a good time'!" Toothy stood up and started heading for the door before his arm was suddenly grabbed.

"Toothy wait!" Lifty took a long sigh. "….I'm sorry, ok? I should have stopped when you first said something."

"Yeah, you think?"

"It won't happen again, I swear." Lifty paused for a second. "You know what, here-" He grabbed his wallet from the dresser and handed Toothy a twenty. "Now I know it won't cover the whole thing, but It'll at least cover most of it, right?"

He looked at Lifty then down at the bill. He sighed, "…Fine…" Toothy shoved the bill in his pocket. "I hope you know this means that It'll be a while before I come back here, right?"

"And that's completely understandable. You know what, I'll make it up to you. Prom's next week, right? We can go together, and I'll make sure you'll have the time of your life, ok?" Lifty pleaded.

Toothy was hesitant, but then again he did seem sorry. The best he could do was consider it. "I'll have to think about it…I'll give you an answer on Monday, ok?" Toothy suddenly found himself being pulled into a hug.

"Thanks, even for just considering it!" Lifty let him go.

"So, uh, if you don't mind, it's getting late and-"

"Oh, of course." Lifty lead him to the front door. "Hey, and thanks again, and just so you know I really am sorry. By the way, do you need a ride home?"

"I'm good. I'll, uh, I'll walk. Talk to you Monday, I guess?"

"Ok, talk to you then." Lifty closed the door behind Toothy.

"Wow, you really fucked that one up." Shifty said slinking into the room.

"WILL YOU-

* * *

Toothy starting walking home when he got a text from Cuddles.

 _C: { So…How'd it go? )_

 _T: { It was alright. )_

Toothy knew he couldn't tell him what had happened, or else Cuddles would probably single handedly break down Lifty's door.

 _C: { Just alright? Well, I guess it is Lifty, he's not really the king of manners. )_

 _C: { He didn't do anything that deserves an ass-kicking, did he? )_

 _T: { No, don't. )_

Yep, just as he thought.

 _C: { What happened then?. )_

 _T: { I'll tell you next time I see you, ok. )_

 _C: { It is nothing super bad, right? )_

 _T: { No, nothing super bad happened. )_

 _C: { Ok, just making sure, somebody's gotta stick up for you. )_

 _C: { Not that you can't stick up for yourself or anything. )_

 _C: { You just have a habit of letting people walk all over you. )_

 _C: { That probably sounded worse than I meant for it to be. )_

 _C: { You know what I mean. )_

 _T: { Hey, Cuddles? )_

 _C: { Yeah? )_

 _T: { Just stop texting. )_

 _C: { Ok, will do. )_

 _C: { You'd tell me if something happened, right. )_

 _T: { Yes, I would tell you if something happened. )_

 _T: { Again, I will tell you all about it Monday, ok? )_

 _C: { Ok, see you then? )_

 _T: { Yeah, see ya. )_

Toothy chuckled at Cuddles' ramblings. Cuddles has always been a bit protective, but he means well. And he'd be lying if he said he didn't secretly like it when he was like that. It was one of the many things he enjoyed about him. He blushed just thinking about it and smiled at his phone. At least the texts made the walk home a little easier.

* * *

Author note: I apologize if the texting section doesn't look as well as I intended it to be.


	4. Ch 4: Confrontation

-Monday-

"So, Monday came, and I still wasn't 100% sure what I should do. And I sure as hell couldn't tell Cuddles what actually happened, so I came here to the Counselors office and-" Toothy gestured to the office "and so here I am."

Sniffles just sat there with his mouth slightly open. He shook his head to bring him back to reality. "Well, that seemed like a very….eventful week." Sniffles paused for a second and looked over some of his notes. "…..I apologize if this sounds a bit rude, but you are telling me the whole story, right? I'm only asking because I know you didn't give Cuddles all the details, and whether or not Lifty actually raped you is going to impact the severity of the situation."

"I swear, he did actually stop." Toothy reassured.

"Ok, and you know I can't actually tell you what to do, just to give you advice."

Toothy nodded in response.

"Now I'm not gonna lie, I do see a lot of red flags involving Lifty and you should probably be more cautious around him in general." Sniffles sighed. "However, if you do decide to continue this and really do believe that he won't do it again, maybe try being more blunt. You know, make sure he knows exactly what you want out of this relationship and that you're both are on the same page."

"Maybe I'll just give him a second chance at the prom, and if he tries anything, I'll leave." Toothy suggested.

"If that's what you want to do, the prom would be the best place. It's a populated so if it doesn't go well, Lifty is less likely to do anything that'll ruin his image."

Suddenly someone knocked on the door. "Hey Sniffles?" The door opened and Nutty poked his head in. "Sorry, I know you told me not to come in, but the bell's gonna ring in about ten minutes." Nutty looked over, "Oh, hi Toothy! I didn't know you were in here!" Nutty waved.

"Thank you for the update, I appreciate it. We'll be out shortly."

"Okie dokie!" Nutty gave Sniffles a thumbs-up. "It was nice seeing you!" He shouted over to Toothy and closed the door back.

"I apologize for the interruption, but we probably should wrap this up. Was there anything else you wanted to discuss?"

"No, I think that was about it." Toothy replied, standing up. Sniffles followed and set an hand on Toothy's shoulder.

"This part is really none of my business and I know you are trying to move on. But I think it'd be best if you told Cuddles how you feel. Even if he doesn't like you back, I believe you'd feel better in general to get it off your chest."

"I don't know..." Toothy said nervously.

"Look, I know what you're thinking, but Cuddles isn't the type of person to break off a friendship over something like that." Sniffles paused for a second, "And who knows, maybe confessing will help you move on in the long run."

Toothy sighed, "Maybe you're right."

"Thank you, and I hope I could shed some light on the situation." Sniffles opened the door for Toothy. "And again, please be careful."

"Ok, I will." Toothy waved and headed to class.

* * *

Toothy sat down in the cafeteria and waited for Cuddles. He wasn't able to talk to Cuddles earlier since he was talking to Sniffles all morning. Damn, he probably thinks he was trying to avoid him or something. Toothy started to feel a presence behind him. It's probably Lifty, he has been waiting for an answer since Friday after all.

"Lifty, about Fri-" Toothy turned around to see Cuddles. "Oh, uh, hey Cuddles."

"Sorry. I didn't disappoint you, did I?" Cuddles chuckled and sat down beside him. "By the way, did something happen? I didn't see you this morning."

"No, I, uh, overslept, so I was late to school."

Cuddles narrowed his eyes, "Really, now? Cause if I didn't know any better, I'd say judging by your tone and the fact that you haven't overslept since you were a Junior. Lifty screwed up the date somehow and you don't want me know because you think I'm gonna beat him up or something."

"No!" Cuddles glared at him, "...Ok, fine." Toothy sighed, "Lifty forgot his wallet. I didn't want to tell you because you'd probably say that he did it on purpose. He repaid me back later, so it's all good now." Toothy forced a smile.

"There wasn't anything else was there?" Cuddles prodded.

"Wellll, he was kinda late….. So that was a little annoying." Toothy muttered.

"How late?"

"It was only a few minutes." Cuddles then glared at him again. "Ok, it was about an hour!" Toothy admitted.

"AN HOUR?! What the hell was he doing for an hour?!"

"I was talking to somebody, not that it's any of your business." Lifty walked up. "Anyway, Toothy, can we talk?" Lifty glared over at Cuddles and grabbed Toothy's arm. "…alone." Cuddles sat there, fuming.

Lifty pulled Toothy into the bathroom. Cuddles secretly followed and eavesdropped outside. "Look, I just wanted to apologize again for the whole bed thing and-" Lifty was then interrupted by flushing and Nutty walking out of the stall.

Nutty looked over to Toothy, "Oh, hi again!" He waved.

"….What the hell are you doing here?" Lifty narrowed his eyes.

Nutty looked over at the stall then looked back. "I was…using the bathroom?"

"No." Lifty face palmed. "I went it as a get out!"

"but….Sniffles said I should always wash my hands."

"GO!" Lifty yelled.

"EEP-!" After Nutty scurried away, Lifty skimmed the other stalls to make sure they were empty. "Anyways, as I was saying, I'm sorry. I really hope you take up my offer on the prom thing."

"Before that, I need to tell you, I don't want this relationship to just be about sex. I want an actual relationship, you know. So if you're willing to accept that, then I'll go to the prom with you. But if not, then I'm sorry."

Lifty looked surprised by Toothy's words. "…Fine." He grumbled, almost annoyed. "We can slow it down, if that's what you want."

"Thank you, so I will see you Friday then?" Toothy asked.

"I'll pick you up."

"Ok, see you then." Cuddles ducked behind a corner as Toothy walked out.

Cuddles waited till Toothy was gone before he went to confront Lifty, who had recently lit a cigarette. "So what did you mean when you said 'the whole bed thing'?"

Lifty peered over and took a drag, "It's none of your damn business."

Cuddles started rolling up his sleeves. "We'll see about that."

Lifty smirked, "What? Are you gonna fight me now?"

Cuddles pinned him against the wall, "I swear to God, if it turns out you-!"

"Woah! Hold your horses there, bunny boy! We didn't go all the way, ok? Can I go now?"

"Then how far did you go?!" Cuddles growled.

"If you must know. I came on to him, he said no, and I stopped. End of story, ok?" Cuddles continued to glare at him. "Now if you must excuse me, I'd prefer not to be late to class." Lifty smirked as he put out his cigarette on Cuddles' arm.

Cuddles instinctively let him go and grabbed his own arm. "MOTHER FUCKER!"

"See ya, bunny boy~!" Lifty slinked out of the bathroom before Cuddles could get his hands on him again.

Cuddles growled and put his arm under the sink. He could chase him, but he didn't want to end up getting expelled over a lowlife like him. Soon the bell rang. "Shit." Cuddles dried off his arm and ran to class.


	5. Ch 5: Promise?

-Later that day-

Cuddles was sitting on a bench outside the school talking to Giggles. Well, more like listening to her go on-and-on about drama. "And then, Petunia just straight up dumps him! Isn't that crazy!?"

"Uh-huh, yeah, super crazy." Cuddles placed his head into his hands and stared at the entrance, waiting for even the slightest glimpse of Toothy.

"Are you even listening to me?!" Giggles huffed.

"Yes, Petunia dumped Handy." About then, Toothy walked out the building and Cuddles shot up. "Uh, hey, Giggles, go ahead and head home. I need to talk to Toothy about something."

"Seriously? You've been spending so much time with him, I want you to spend time with meeee!" She whined, clinging to his arm.

"Look, Toothy's going through some stuff right now, you're not."

"Fiiiiine….It's not gonna be this way at prom, it is?" she pouted, crossing her arms.

"No it won't, ok? I got to go. Look, we can even meet up early and-"

"NO!" Giggles interrupted, putting her arms out. "I mean, you'd be wasting your time, since it takes me so long to get ready." She laughed nervously, returning her arms to her side and rubbing her head. "By the way, you don't have to pick me up either, we can just meet there. So, uh, go ahead and talk to Toothy." She lightly pushed Cuddles and flashed a nervous smile.

"Uh, ok?" Cuddles raised an eyebrow. He then turned around to see how far Toothy had gotten, "Shit! Ok, see you then." He waved at Giggles as he ran after him. "HEY, TOOTHY!"

"I swear if this is about Lifty." Toothy muttered under his breath. He then turned and flashed a smile. "Oh, hi, Cuddles!"

Cuddles caught up and put a hand on Toothy's shoulder. "Hey, I wanted to catch you before you got too far. I wanted to walk you home."

"Walk me home? You haven't done that since, well, since you started dating Giggles." He started having flashbacks of how devastated he felt when Cuddles originally told him 'not to wait for him anymore' since he was walking Giggles home now. He slightly blushed at the idea that he would want to go back to the way things were.

"I know, and I'm sorry. Besides, I wanted to talk to you." Cuddles started walking with him, his words snapping Toothy back to reality.

"Oh." He lowered his shoulders as his blush faded. He slightly rolled his eyes, he thought they were over this, "About what?" He asked innocently.

"I was talking to Lifty and he said something about coming onto you."

"Cuddles! You didn't hurt him, did you?!" Toothy scolded, he couldn't believe that Cuddles would go behind his back like this!

"Actually the exact opposite." Cuddles pulled up his sleeve reveal the circular burn embedded into his arm.

"Holy shit!" Toothy grabbed his arm and examined the burn. "Are you ok?!"

"Yeah, I'm fi-" Cuddles winced a bit. "Ok, it may be a little sensitive."

"Sorry!" He let go of Cuddles' arm, Guilt started washing over him for not worrying about Cuddles safety the same way he was worrying about Lifty's. "When we get to my house, I'll get you some ointment, ok?"

"Hey, Toothy, I'm fine. You really don't have to." Cuddles assured, trying to relieve him of his worried looks.

"Come on, you would have done the same for me." He insisted.

Cuddles sighed in defeat, "Guess I can't argue with that. Just the ointment though, I don't want to walk out of your house covered head-to-toe in gauze."

They chuckled and walked for a good minute before Cuddles suddenly looked over. "Wait a sec, you side tracked me!"

"No I didn't, you did it to yourself, I was just hoping you wouldn't notice." Toothy shrugged.

"Hey, I'm serious!" Cuddles stepped in front of him and held Toothy's shoulders, looking deep into Toothy's eyes. "Look Toothy, I'm only bringing it up because I don't want you to be in a toxic relationship. And, I don't know, I just have a bad feeling about him." He pulled Toothy into a hug, "I'm worried about you, ok? A-And I'm even more worried that you won't tell me these things."

Toothy blushed and hugged him back, he didn't know what to say except "…I'm sorry, I didn't realize that you were that worried about me." He lingered for a bit then let go. "And…..yes, Lifty come onto me, and he did…um… feel me up. He tried to go further and I told him 'no', and he stopped. I swear that's all that happened, ok?"

"Seriously? On the first date?!"

Toothy looked to the side and nodded.

"And you're still going to prom with him?!"

"Well, I thought I could at leas-….Wait a second." Toothy paused for a second and looked over. "I never told you that Lift-" He pushed Cuddles away, "Did you eavesdrop on us?!"

"Look, I'm sorry, I just want make sure you were ok. I tried asking you, but you wouldn't tell me!" Cuddles pleaded, reaching out to him.

He furrowed his brow, "Is that when you 'talked' to Lifty?!" Toothy scoffed, "Hell, he probably did that burn in self-defense!" He ignored Cuddles pleas and stormed ahead, clenching his fists.

Cuddles chased him, "Ok, I may have gotten upset and pinned him to the wall, but that's it! I swear I didn't hit him or anything like that! He had a cigarette and burned me after I pinned him, ok." He grabbed his shoulder only for Toothy to turn around and swat his hand away.

"HAVE YOU THOUGHT THAT MAYBE THIS IS THE EXACT REASON I DIDN'T WANT TO TELL YOU?!" He yelled, almost startling Cuddles. He knew Cuddles did tend to be protective over him, and when it was about bullies, that's one thing. And yes, Toothy thought that if he had found out about it, he'd might of

tried to threaten him. But he never imagined Cuddles would have actually been physical about it, let alone go behind his back to do it!

Toothy turned to storm off again but Cuddles jumped in front of him before he could go anywhere, "You're absolutely right! And I'm sorry, you have every right to be mad. I should have trusted you to tell me when you were ready."

"Yeah, you should of!" Toothy crossed his arms, avoiding eye contact.

He reached for Toothy's arm but the sting from the last denial made him stop and retract his hand. Cuddles sighed and started rubbing his own arm, "I just knew if you were keeping it from me, then it meant something bad happened. I just wanted to make sure he wasn't hurting you or anything….. I'm sorry, I'll trust you next time and…... and I promise I won't let my temper get the best of me again." Looked at the ground, unknowing on how Toothy would react.

Toothy couldn't help but look over and get a glimpse of how defeated Cuddles looked. He took a long sigh. He was still mad at him, but then again Cuddles didn't usually promise anything unless he wholeheartedly intended to keep it. "Do you promise to trust me from now on?"

"Really?!" Cuddles perked up, "Oh, um, and of course!"

"And you promise you won't do it again?"

Cuddles would agree to anything at this point, especially if it meant Toothy would forgive him. He smiled his biggest grin and put three fingers to his head. "Scouts honor!"

Toothy chuckled a bit, "Cuddles, we haven't been boy scouts since like, early middle school."

"But it's the highest form of promising I know, right behind the pinky promise."

"Then let's pinky promise then." Toothy joked and held up his pinky, "Promise?"

"Oh shit, we're pulling out the big guns. But fine, if you insist." He held up his. "I promise."

They laughed as they intertwined pinkies. Toothy smiled and looked down at their hands. "I miss the moments like this. Ever since you and Giggles started dating, the only time we've hung out is during school." He sighed a bit.

"I miss it too." Cuddle paused for a moment. "You know what? Let's make it a point to hang out at least once a week outside of school! No Giggles, no Lifty, just the two of us! What do you think?!"

Toothy smiled at Cuddles, "I think I'd like that a lot."


	6. Ch 6: Feeling super

They soon got to Toothy's house and walked in. Cuddles walked around the living room while Toothy plopped his bag on the sofa.

"Geez, it feels like ages since I've been at your place." Cuddles studied the pastel purple walls, "Ok, am I crazy or did these used to be white or something like that."

"Huh? Oh, yeah, my parents got it painted a few months ago."

"Wow, has it really been that long since I've been here?" Cuddles was setting his book bag beside Toothy's when he noticed a small Splendid keychain peeking out of a pocket in Toothy's bag.

"Apparently. Hey, I'm gonna go get some ointment for your arm, go ahead and make yourself at home." Toothy started heading out the room.

"Wait a sec, do you still like that Splendor guy?"

Toothy stopped in his tracks and looked over at him, "First of all, his name is Splendid. And second, that stuffs for kids so no, I don't."

Cuddles chuckled, "Sooo, you don't have those Splendid posters hanging up in your room anymore?"

"Uhhhh, pffft, no! Of course not!" He crossed his arms and looked to the side to hide his cold sweats.

"So you don't mind if I go take a quick peek then, right~?" Cuddles tried to hide his smile as he started creeping towards his room.

"You know!" Toothy laughed nervously as he cut in front of him, "It's like, super messy! And, umm, there's a….. a smell! Yeah, it reeks in there, so I wouldn't go in there if I were you." He tried to push Cuddles back towards the sofa.

"Well if you say-" Cuddles quickly jumped out of the way, letting gravity distract Toothy for him while he ran to his room.

Toothy stumbled, waving his arms and trying regain balance. "CUDDLES WAIT!" The second he reclaimed his balance and he took a shortcut through the kitchen, reaching his room a few seconds before Cuddles. Toothy wedged himself in the door way, putting up his arms to prevent Cuddles from breaking through as he approached.

"Is it really that bad?" Cuddles questioned, trying to move the fur covered wall.

"No, It's just-" Toothy was cut short when Cuddles bear hugged him, lifting him off the ground. "WAIT, NO!" He kicked his feet as he was unwillingly removed from his post. Toothy turned and grabbed Cuddles' hood but it was too late.

"Oh my God." Cuddles opened the door to a light blue room with multiple Splendid and Super Squad poster littering the wall. Upon a variety of shelves laid multiple brightly colored figurines from the franchise. In the middle of the room was a giant acorn logo rug. "It's even better than I remember!" Cuddles flashed the biggest shit-eating grin at Toothy, who was currently burying his burning red face into his hands.

"Please, kill me now."

"Why? This is amazing!" Cuddles walked in and examined the figures. "Ok, I know who Splendid is but who are these other guys?" Cuddles picked up a small fox figurine dressed in pink and purple.

Toothy ran over, "That's Wonder Wanda, she's part of the squad, but could we just put her back before she breaks please?" He carefully took the figure and returned it to rightful place. "Now let's just-" He started pushing Cuddles out of his room.

"Hey I wasn't gonna break anything! And besides, I want to look around some more." Cuddles whined, giving Toothy puppy-dog eyes. "Please?"

Toothy tried his best to resist but ultimately failed, he sighed. "Fine! Just be careful…..I'm gonna get the ointment, meet me in the living room when you're done."

"Thanks, and I promise, I'll be super careful!" He reassured as Toothy left. Cuddles walked over and re-examined the figures while wandering around the room. He put his hand in his pockets to keep himself from touching anything, while roaming he came across a desk with a few framed pictures. One was a small autographed poster of Splendid while the other was a picture of Cuddles and Toothy smiling and holding up a trophy. He smiled as he picked up the picture and reminisced. They were in a baseball championship and Toothy had just hit a winning homerun. He remembered how happy he was for him and set the picture down, going back to looking around.

He eventually stumbled onto a stack of Splendid movies displayed on one of the shelves. Suddenly Cuddles got an idea and grabbed the movies, taking them into the living room. He was laying them on the coffee table when Toothy walked in.

"What are you doing?" Toothy questioned, raising an eyebrow.

Cuddles stepped out of the way to reveal the movies laid out. "Ok, so you know how we were saying that we should hang out more? Well I was thinking we could do a little movie marathon, you know."

Toothy was almost surprised, "I mean, we can if you want. I didn't think you liked Splendid stuff though."

"It's not the I don't like it, just indifferent. I've only ever seen the first one." Cuddles examined other movies more closely.

"Wait, seriously?! Ok, then there is no question about it, we have to watch all of them!" Toothy walked over and picked up the movies

"Hold on, ALL?! There's like 7 of them!"

Toothy paused and looked down at the movies, "Ok, fine, we can start them today." He set them beside the DVD player. "Come on, I can start some popcorn started and get that burn taken care of while we're waiting." Cuddles followed him into the kitchen as he set a bag in the microwave and turned it on. "Ok, which arm was it?" Toothy held up the ointment.

Cuddles rolled up his sleeve to reveal the burn. "You know, you don't have to do this."

"I know." Toothy put some on his finger and held his arm as he rubbed it in. Cuddles winced for a moment but powered through it. "…..Hey, Cuddles?"

"Yeah?"

"….Could you not tell anybody that I still like Splendid?" Toothy looked to the side in embarrassment.

"I won't if you don't want me to. Although I don't think it's a big deal if you still like it."

Toothy stopped and looked down as he wiped off his hands. "It's just….I think if Lifty found out then he'd think it'd be stupid or childish or something like that."

"Well Lifty could just-" Cuddles bit his tongue when he saw Toothy look away from him. There were a million things he could say about Lifty but right now wasn't the time. He sighed and set a hand on Toothy's shoulder, "Look, If Lifty cares about you, then he will understand…. or at least tolerate it. Besides, It's a superhero thing, liking it isn't hurting anybody. And of anything, he should be happy to see your face light up whenever you talk about it. I mean, that's how I feel."

Toothy looked at Cuddles, "Really?"

"Of course! Why wouldn't I?" Cuddles smiled at him.

Toothy blushed as he looked at the hand on his shoulder.

 _DING!_

The two looked over and Toothy opened the microwave, releasing a burnt smell to waft around the room. He examined the black popcorn, "I think we left it in for too long."

"Oh here." Cuddles set the ointment beside Toothy. "That should help."

Toothy couldn't help but chuckle, "I'm sure it's not that bad." He took a piece and set it in his mouth. His face immediately scrunched up. "Ok, no, mistakes were made." He spat out the piece in his mouth and threw the bag away. "Oh well, let's try this again." He set another bag in the microwave.

"Hey, if you want to get the movie set up, I can stay here and keep an eye on the popcorn."

"Sounds good, that way we won't get distracted again." Toothy walked back into the living room and picked up the first movie and put it in the player. He couldn't help but to think of Cuddles' words as the disc loaded. _'If Lifty cares about you, then he will understand'…..'If Lifty cares about you'…'If'…..but…. What IF he doesn't? I mean, he almost seemed annoyed when I told him to take it slow._ Toothy sighed and rubbed his forehead. _Maybe this was a mistake…_

"Toothy, popcorn's d-" Cuddles walked in to see Toothy staring off into space and rubbing his head. "Hey are you ok?"

"Huh?" Toothy looked over, "Oh, yeah, I'm fine." He mustered up a fake smile for him.

"Is it because I almost bad-mouthed Lifty?" Cuddles walked over and set a hand on his shoulder. "If it is, I'm sorry."

"No…it's not that, I was thinking about Lifty and what you said." Toothy looked down at the ground.

"And that's…. bad?"

"I don't know, it's probably nothing, I'm just over thinking it." He rubbed his own arm and started staring off again.

"Well if it was nothing then you wouldn't be upset. You know what, go ahead and sit down. I'll get the popcorn and we could talk about it, but first, stay." Toothy looked up confused as Cuddles ran out of the living room and to the bedroom. He grabbed Toothy's light blue comforter off the bed and brought it back. "Here." He then proceeded to wrap Toothy in the comforter, turning him into a furry burrito. "Ok, now you can sit down and I'll be right back."

Toothy couldn't help but smile as he watched Cuddles scurried into the kitchen. _If only Lifty was like this._ Toothy's smiled slowly disappeared and he sat down on the sofa. Cuddles soon came back with a bowl of popcorn and a few sodas. He set the bowl on the table and handed Toothy one of the sodas. He wiggled his arm out of the blanket and retrieved the can. "Thanks."

"No problem." Cuddles moved the book bags off the sofa and sat down next Toothy, laying his arm beside him on the head of the sofa. "Ok, so tell me what you're thinking about."

"W-Well…..I'm worried if made a mistake with Lifty." He hunched over, looking down at the drink. "I mean, I WANT to like him but I don't even know if he actually likes me or not! Hell, he was annoyed when I asked him to take it slow! B-But I'm worried that this is the best it's gonna get and if this doesn't work out and I never find someone else and then I'll end up alone forever!" Toothy groaned as he leaned back and face-palmed himself. "I-It's just, I don't know!"

"Hey, hey, hey" Cuddles scooted in, moving his arm down and around Toothy, rubbing his shoulder. "Well first of all, even if it doesn't work out, I don't think you're gonna be alone forever."

He sighed. "Then what do you think about it?" He looked over at him as slid his hand down from his face.

Cuddles bit his lip for a second. He didn't want to say anything about Lifty and make things worse but at the same time... "Do you want me to say what you want to hear or do you want to hear my honest opinion?"

"I want to hear what you really think."

"Ok." Cuddles thought hard to choose his words carefully. "It's just-"... "I feel like he-"…. _Ok, this harder than I thought._ He took a deep sigh. "I think…. Lifty is using you. A-And I could be wrong, but…. Sometimes the way I see him look at you, it just makes me so mad. I-It's almost like that's the only thing he cares about! And you deserve better than that!" He clenched his fist and looked to the side "Because when you finally give in to her, thinking that's gonna help your relationship, it's just gonna seem like that's the only thing keeping you two together!"

"Her?"

Cuddles looked over as his face turned red. "H-Him…I meant him…" He bit his lip and looked back down.

"Hey, Cuddles…..Is everything ok between you and Giggles?" Toothy put a hand on his shoulder and shot him a worried look.

"I'm sorry…. It's just.…I don't want you to make you to make the same mistake I did." He started rubbing his temple.

"Cuddles….. Giggles didn't force you….did she?"

"Well, I wouldn't call it forced. Ok, you know that we broke up the first time because she cheated on me. But when we got back together, I caved in, thinking that if I gave her what she wanted then she wouldn't cheat on me again. But sometimes when we're alone, it just feels like that's all she wants to do now. Hell, prom's the first thing we've had to an actual date since we've been back together." Cuddles shook his head, remembering this is supposed to be about Toothy. "Sorry, I started rambling. My point is, Giggles looks at me the same way Lifty looks at you, except Giggles doesn't have the same reputation Lifty does. I'm worried about what exactly Lifty would do to get what he wanted."

"I can see where you're coming from but I don't think Lifty is a dangerous as you're making him out to be. Although…. I am worried he might try to make a move again at prom."

"If he makes you feel uncomfortable in any way, remember I'll be there, ok? I'll make sure to have my phone so you can always call or text me if anything goes south."

"That does make me feel better." Toothy paused for a second, thinking about the situation between Giggles and his friend. "Hey Cuddles?...Have you thought about talking to Giggles about how you feel."

"I have, I'm just worried that'd she'd go back to cheating if I did, you know?"

"Well, I mean Lifty took it better than I thought he would, maybe Giggles will too. And if she does cheat on you, then that only means she didn't take your relationship seriously to begin with."

"Maybe you're right, I just don't understand why it always has to always be about sex. I mean, is it so bad to just hang out like you and I do. Sometimes I wish she was more like you, ya know?"

"I feel the same way, sometimes I wish I was just dating you instead." Toothy widened his eyes when he realized what he had just let slip. "I-I mean! L-Like he was like you, not actually dating-" Toothy turned the other way to hide his burning face. _Oh my God, I can't believe I just said-_

He chuckled a little, "Then maybe I should just replace Giggles with you and just call it a day." Cuddles blushed a little himself as he considered the possibility. _Wait, what am I thinking?! He's my friend…and he has a boyfriend! A shitty one, but still!_ He shook his head. _Hell, I have a girlfriend! What am I doing?!_ He tried his best to change the subject. "Hey, uh, weren't we planning on watching a movie?"

"YES! The movie!" Toothy quickly grabbed the remote and pressed play. They both looked away to hide their faces.

Cuddles started getting redder when he realized his arm was still around Toothy. _Should I move my arm? What if he thinks I did it because of what he said? I don't want to make things more awkward. Maybe if I leave it, he won't realize it's still there._

 _Oh my God, his arm is still around me! Calm down, maybe I'm misreading signs._ He tried to peek over to get a read on Cuddles but it was turned. _Ok, if it's still there halfway through, then it's on purpose._ The movie reached its halfway point and it hadn't move. _Ok, Maybe I should go with it!_ He was about to lay his head on Cuddle's shoulder when his mom walked in the door. He shot up instantly as Cuddles quickly removed his arm.

"Toothy, I'm h-" She looked over to see the two on their best behavior. "Oh hey Cuddles! It's been forever since I've seen you, how have you been?"

"I'm good Mrs. Beaver, how about you?"

"Well I'm just fine, thanks for asking. You know it's starting to get late, after the movie do you need me to drive you home?"

"That'd be great, Mrs. B." They watched as she walked in the kitchen and let out a sigh in unison. They ended up keeping their hands to themselves for the rest of the movie until Cuddles had to leave. "See you later! And I'll make sure to talk to Giggles' too!" He pulled him into a quick hug and waved.

"oh…um, Yeah! Tell me how it goes!" He waved back as Cuddles left. _Giggles?_ He sighed. _I guess I was wrong about the arm then._


	7. Ch 7: Prom night

-Prom night-

Prom was in a few hours, and Toothy was starting to get nervous about the upcoming night. _You know what, who knows! Maybe Lifty won't even try anything and I won't need Cuddles' help! …But what if I do?_ He shook his head and tried to distract himself by looking over the tux he had got.

It was dark plum two-piece tux that was about a few shades off from being black. With it came a white under shirt and a black bow tie that matched the shoes. Toothy looked in the mirror and messed with his hair a bit but came to the conclusion that he'd gel it back when got closer to getting ready.

He sat down for the time being but soon his mind started out playing the endless possibilities of what could go wrong. _What if Lifty tried to make a move and I had to break up with him right there? Then what if he started to cause a scene and put me on the spot?! What if Cuddles is nowhere to be found when I need him most?! What if-?!_ Toothy grabbed his phone and called Cuddles. He just need to hear him say that everything was gonna be ok.

"Hello?" Cuddles answered.

"I'm nervous…"

"Are you over-thinking it again?" Cuddles questioned.

"No...yes."

"Toothy, listen to me. If anything goes wrong, I'll be there." He assured.

"But what if I can't find you?"

"Look, like I said before, I'll have my phone on me and you can call me if something goes wrong. And how about this, if I see him doing anything suspicious, I'll call you, ok?" He proposed.

"What if Giggles gets mad at you?..."

"She'll get over it, if you feel uncomfortable enough to call me, then I will come. You being ok is more important than Giggles being mad for 5 minutes." He reassured.

Toothy face turned red to Cuddles' words. "….Thank you." Toothy paused for a second and thought about what Cuddles' had said, he thought about the other night and how happy he felt when Cuddles' arm was around him, but lastly he thought about what Sniffles had said before. _If I don't do it now, then I never will._ He took a deep breath. _Here goes nothing._

"H-Hey Cuddles? I-I need to-"

"Oh wait! Before you go, I forgot to tell you! I talked to Giggles!" Cuddles unintentionally interrupted.

"O-Oh Yeah? How did it go." Toothy bit his lip, he had never been so relieved and disappointed at the same time.

"To be honest, I think she took it the same way Lifty did, annoyed but compliant. However, ever since then, she's been spending a lot of time at Petunia's. She's probably over there complaining or something." He lightly chuckled, "I guess that's to be expected though, but all-in-all it's going pretty good."

"That's…..great."

"I need to get ready soon. Is there anything else on your mind you want to talk about?" Cuddles asked.

"Nope." Toothy lied, "That was about it."

"You sure?"

"Yep."

"Ok then, see you at prom."

"Yeah, see you."

Toothy hung up and fell back onto his bed. "Idiot!" Toothy face palmed himself. _I can't believe I was about to confess everything to him! A few hours before prom no less!_ He groaned to himself. _If only Lifty was this caring, then I wouldn't have to worry about this kind of stuff._ Suddenly his phone started to ring. _Shit, speak of the devil._

Toothy sighed. "H-Hey, Lifty."

"Hey, I just wanted to make sure that we didn't make plans for dinner or anything, since, you know, they'll probably have food there." Lifty asked.

"Eating there's fine."

"Cool, and I thought that maybe we could get there super early, you know, before it starts getting crowded?" He suggested.

"Uhhh, you know, actually I was thinking we all could meet up with Cuddles' and-"

"Are you serious!? Not a chance! That guy hates my guts! I want to avoid him as much as possible." Lifty interrupted.

"Well, he IS my friend. I'd like to hang out with him at least a little."

"Fine, you two can hang out a bit towards the end, but I hope you realize that Giggles is gonna be clung to his hip the entire time." He pointed out.

"Yes, I know." Toothy said, annoyed.

"Anyways, does picking you up an hour before sound alright?" He asked.

"Yeah, that should be fine."

"See you then, babe." Lifty hung up.

Toothy looked at his phone. _Did he seriously just call me 'babe'?_ He sighed again. _Why do I have a bad feeling about this?_

* * *

-An hour before prom-

Lifty pulled up to Toothy's house in a beat up van and blared his horn. _Seriously? He couldn't even bother coming to the door?_ Toothy walked out to the van, looking at Lifty as he got in. He wore a white collared shirt which was unbuttoned at the collar and sleeves rolled up to his forearms. With it he wore a dark green button-up vest with some black pants and black shoes to match.

"Damn! And I thought you were hot before." Lifty whistled, looking him up and down.

"Uhhh, thanks? Um, you look nice too." Toothy forced a small smile.

"Yeah, I know." Lifty smirked and started driving.

Most of the car ride was in silence with 'Superman' by Eminem playing in the background. Eventually Lifty moved a hand over on Toothy's thigh.

"Um, yeah, no." Toothy moved his hand away. _Great, he's already making moves._

"What? I just wanted to hold your hand." Lifty held his hand open, expecting Toothy's.

"Isn't this a little dangerous?" He eyed his hand then back at Lifty.

"Not really, I usually drive with one hand anyway." He assured.

Toothy took a deep sigh. _I guess it's better than some of the other things he could be doing._ He reluctantly held his hand until they got to the prom. Toothy skimmed the crowd as they drove past. _Shit, Cuddles must not be here yet…..wait!_ He spotted Giggles and Petunia arm-in-arm and talking to one another. _Maybe if Giggles was here, so was Cuddles, or at least he was gonna be here soon._

Lifty parked the van and headed towards the building. He quickly grabbed Toothy hand and led him into the building before he could even ask Giggles if Cuddles had showed up or not. "Hey, what's the rush? I wanted to-"

"I just wanted to get away from the crowd, they, uh… make me nervous."

"What? Since when did crowds make you nervous?" Toothy raised an eyebrow. "In fact the only I've ever seen you nervous is when you're trying to get out of trouble."

"What do you mean by thaaa-…aaactually, yes! You're 100 percent right! I pissed off someone and I don't want to run into them."

"Seriously?! Who?"

"Uh…..Russell. Yeah, I made fun of the whole pirate thing and now he wants to kick my ass." Lifty brought Toothy to the dance floor which only had a handful of people in it considering it was still early. He soon started surveying the area.

"Hey, you don't have anything to worry about, I don't see Russell anywhere." Toothy assured him.

"Yeah, Russell…..Hey, I might see what food they have here. You want some punch?"

"Um, sure."

"Cool, just, stay here ok?" He insisted as he left.

"Ok?" While Toothy waited, he went ahead and decided to text Cuddles. _"Hey, Lifty kinda rushed me in the building so I didn't see if you were here or not."_

* * *

-Meanwhile-

Cuddles parked and headed over to Giggles and Petunia who quickly let go of each other when they saw him.

He wore a dark tan tux with brown dress shoes paired with cream colored vest and tie. He tried to tame his curly hair but ended up just parting it to the side. While Giggles wore a short, light pink dress that laid just above her knees. The top wrapped around her neck and sparkled with many jewels that thinned out as it got to the flared out skirt. Her short hair was mostly down except for a small ponytail that held a red bow that matched her heels. Petunia, on the other hand, looked plain compared to Giggles. She wore a full ponytail and had a long silver and green necklace that laid against a dark blue, sleeveless dress top. This was paired with a long, flowing, light blue skirt with dark blue wedges.

"Hey. Hope you weren't waiting long." Cuddles said.

Petunia peered over to Cuddles, "Hey…um, I got to go." She looked over to Giggles. "See you later~." She waved as she walked away quickly.

"Did I say something?" Cuddles raised an eyebrow.

"Uhhh, no, she's um, not feeling well! Yeah, she just needs to sit down for a bit."

"Oh, well, I hope she feels better then." Cuddles then heard his phone. "Huh?" He looked at it and replied back. _"I just got here, is everything alright?"_

"So are we gonna go in or what?" Giggles asked.

"Oh, yeah." They headed in while he got a text back.

 _"Yeah, I'm at the dance floor. Lifty's off getting some punch though."_

Cuddles kept an eye out for Lifty has they headed to the dance floor. "So are you going to be texting Toothy all night?" Giggles said, annoyed.

"Huh? Oh, I just want to be in touch in case something bad happens, you know?"

"Well, is anything bad happening now?" She asked.

"I'll try to keep the texting to a minimum, ok?"

"Whatever." Giggles groaned and started doing some texting of her own.

About this time Cuddles spotted Lifty carrying two punch cups over to an unpopulated corner. _What the hell is he doing?_ "Hey Giggles, hold on a sec, ok?" He said, watching his every move.

"What is it now?"

Lifty set the drinks down and took a quick look around before taking something out of the inside of his vest. He then put it into one of the cups, stirring it as it dissolved.

Cuddles eyes widened. "OH HELL NO. Giggles, stay here." He started his way across the room.

"Wha- CUDDLES!" She yelled followed by an immediate groan.

Lifty perked up to the sound of Giggles yelling. He glanced behind him to see Cuddles making a bee line towards him. "OH FUCK!" Lifty quickly grabbed the drinks and started running back to the dance floor.


	8. Ch 8: Red handed

Cuddles immediately raced after Lifty, calling Toothy as he ran.

"Hel-"

"DON'T DRINK THE PUNCH, HE PUT SOMETHING IN IT! I'M MAKING MY WAY OVER NOW!" Cuddles hung up and continued after him.

Lifty was dodging people left and right until he came to a standstill when he almost ran straight into the school's strictest gym teacher, Evil.

"Woah! Where are you off to in such a hurry?" Evil raised an eyebrow and held out his hand, stopping the anxious raccoon.

"M-Mr. Evil, sir, I was just, uh." He turned to see Cuddles rounding the corner. "Sir, I got to go!" He was about to run, but it was too late.

Cuddles grabbed Lifty's collar and threw him against the wall, unaware of the teacher in front of them. He grabbed his shirt and pulled him closer, "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU PUT IN THERE?!"

Evil grabbed Cuddles and pulled the two apart, getting in between them. "Cuddles, chill out. Now, Lifty. What the fuck did you do? Prom hasn't even been going on for 10 minutes and someone already wants to kick your ass." Evil glared down at him.

Lifty jumped in, "Well, you see-"

"Shut up." Evil looked over at Cuddles, "What happened?"

"He put something in Toothy's drink!"

Evil darted his gaze back to Lifty. "LIFTY! That's a new low, even for you!"

"I-It's not true though!" He pleaded.

"We'll see about that." Evil snatched the drinks and smelled them. "Well it's not alcohol." He glared down at the raccoon and set the drinks on a nearby table. "Empty your pockets."

"Ok, fine!" Lifty empty out both his pants and vest pockets. With it he pulled out some loose change, his wallet, and lastly a condom.

"You planning something later?" Evil raised an eyebrow.

Lifty shrugged and crossed his arms. "Well, you can never tell when the mood strikes. Is it a crime to be prepared?" He smirked over at Cuddles, who was clenching his fist and grinding his teeth at the mere sight of it.

Evil rolled his eyes, "Whatever, What about inside your vest?"

These words made the color drain from Lifty's face. "What?" He looked to the side to avoid eye contact. "I, uh, I don't have any inside pockets."

"Then unbutton your vest and let me see."

"Uhhh." Lifty looked around desperately trying to find an escape route. "Well you see, the thing about that is, uh" He tried to bolt but Evil grabbed his arm and pulled him to his side.

Evil bent over so he was at eye level. "We could do this two ways, either you can unbutton your own vest and show me or I'll be forced to do it myself." He started to tighten his grip as he narrowed his eyes. "Your choice."

Lifty gulped and hesitantly unbuttoned his vest to reveal some kind of pill packet sticking out of an inside pocket. "N-Now if you don't mind, I really have to-"

"You aren't going anywhere." Evil snatched the packet and straightened up as he inspected it. His eyes widened, "IS THIS ROHYPNOL?!" He stared at Lifty in anger and disbelief. "Where the hell did you even get these?!"

"They aren't roofies! T-They're, uh, pain meds."

"Yeah, sure they are. Hey Cuddles, go ahead and enjoy the rest of the night. I got this." Evil held Lifty's arm close to assure he didn't go anywhere.

"Thank you Sir." Cuddles then glared at Lifty before running back to check on Toothy.

* * *

Toothy sat in the corner and held himself. _I can't believe Lifty had seriously spiked my drink!_ He set his face in his hands. _I'm an idiot for trusting him a second time._ He looked at his phone, it had been a few minutes since Cuddles had called him. _What if he was in trouble? What if he got into a fight and needed my help? What if-_ Toothy stood up. _I have to find him!_ He started heading across the room when Cuddles entered the dance floor. "CUDDLES!" He waved to get his attention.

Cuddles turned to the sound of his name. "TOOTHY!" He ran over and pulled him into a hug. "He didn't do anything else to you, did he?"

Toothy shook his head.

"Thank god." Cuddles tightened his embrace.

"Did you figure out what it was?"

"Yeah, hold on." Cuddles pulled him over to the side and told him what had happened.

"A-Are you serious?!" Toothy held himself, "Could you imagine what he would have done if you hadn't-" He put a hand over his own mouth and sat down.

Cuddles put a hand on his shoulder and knelt down. "Do you want me to stay with you for the rest of the night?"

Toothy was about to nod but he stopped himself and looked to the side. "….I-I couldn't ask you to do that. Besides, Giggles is probably pissed enough as it is." His grip on himself tightened.

"Do you remember what I said before? She'll get over it." Cuddles guided his face back over to look at him. "Your comfort is more important to me." He reassured.

"But she-!"

"You know what, I'm already calling her." Cuddles stood up and pulled out his phone. "Actually…" He looked down at Toothy. "I'm gonna step out where it's quieter. Do you want to stay here or come with me?"

"I'll stay here…. I'd rather not be in the proximity when she explodes." Toothy lightly joked.

"That's probably a good idea." Cuddles chuckled. "I'll be right back." He gave Toothy a small pat before walking out and calling her.

The phone answered to a lot of rustling and whispering, "H-Hello?" Giggles sounded a bit out of breath.

"Hey, uh, is everything ok?"

"Yeah, yeah. Did you do whatever you ran off to do?" She asked. There was some more rustling and something that sounded like a zipper.

Cuddles tried his best to ignore the zipper. _She's probably just in the bathroom or something._ "Um...Yeah, apparently Lifty was about to-"

"That's great. Glad you got it all taken care of." She interrupted.

"Well about that, I'm gonna spend the rest of the night with Toothy."

"Seriously!? You promised! Look, You've been spending way too much time with him! It's annoying and I'm tired of it! You have to choose, it's either me or Toothy!"

"What?! Are you fucking serious?! After everything I've done for you, you want me to choose?!"

About then Cuddles saw a closet door open up down the hallway. Giggles walked out fixing her hair while Petunia followed, adjusting her skirt. "Yes I do! So which is it?!" Petunia kissed her on the cheek then gestured to her own back. Giggles went behind her and zipped up the back of Petunia's top. Cuddles just stared in disbelief on what he had witnessed "Hello?! You know what, where are you?!"

"Actually, I'm right in front of you."

"...What?" She turned around, her eyes widened as they locked with Cuddles'. "Look, Cuddles, it's not what it looks-"

He hung up and marched over, "You know what. You have a lot of nerve cheating on me, not only once, but twice! And THEN telling me that I have to choose between my best friend and you! I've had enough!"

"I wasn't cheating, I swear! P-Petun-"

"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT! We are through! You hear me?! And no amount of pleading will EVER get us back together!" Cuddles could guarantee that.

"But Cuddles-!"

"No! You had your chance...Oh, and by the way, if it wasn't obvious, I think I'll choose Toothy." Cuddles turned and marched back to Toothy, leaving Giggles to sulk in her actions.


	9. Ch 9: Faithfully

Cuddles crossed his arms and plopped down in chair next to Toothy.

"Was it that bad?" Toothy joked.

Cuddles looked to the side. "Actually…..We broke up."

"WHAT?! Seriously?!...I'm so sorry" Toothy looked down. "If it's because of me, then you didn't have-"

"No, it's not." Cuddles interrupted. "She was cheating on me with Petunia."

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" Toothy stood up. "I OUGHTA!" He started to storm off but Cuddles grabbed his arm.

"Toothy….Just, don't waste your time."

Toothy turned towards him, "But you loved her, and in return she just used you!"

"Actually….I don't think I did." Cuddles let go and clenched his fists, "Of anything, I think I'm more mad at myself. Mad that I didn't see it coming. Mad that I let her take my virginity….. But at the same time." He relaxed his hands and looked at them. "It almost feels like a giant weight has been taken off my shoulders. I mean, most of the time I was with her was just exhausting. And it felt like she always wanted something from me, whether it was sex or if she wanted me to buy her something. It never felt like she was dating me for me, you know?" He lightly chuckled and looked up at Toothy, "If any of that even makes any sense."

Toothy put a hand on Cuddles' shoulder and sat down beside him. "I know exactly how you feel. I mean, I'm still hating myself for letting my relationship with Lifty go on as long as it did."

"Why the hell did you even agree to go out with him in the first place?"

"Uhhhh, Well…" Toothy looked away. "He pointed out that I hadn't been in a relationship for a while and basically said that he was better than nothing. So I kind of just went with it.…. T-That and, um, something else."

"What's the other thing? He didn't blackmail you or anything, did he?!"

Toothy chucked a little, "No, Nothing like that." He starting fidgeting with his fingers as his cheeks turned pink, "H-He knew that I had a crush on someone, and pointed out that I had no chance with him since he was….you know, straight."

"Well do you know that for sure? Have you asked him?"

"N-No, but we're friends and I don't want to ruin anything. I mean, what if someone asked you if you liked guys?" Toothy was turning redder by the second, he avoided eye contact and hoped Cuddles wouldn't notice.

Cuddles scratched his head and felt himself starting to blush as well, "…Well, I'd say it'd have to depend on the guy, you know?"

Toothy gave himself whiplash turning to Cuddles, "What?"

"I mean, I'm not gonna have a one night stand with some random guy off the street. But if he genuinely cared for me, I'm sure he'd be a better partner than Giggles ever was." He peered over at Toothy and smiled a little.

"D-Do you really mean that?!" Toothy stared in awe.

"Of course!" Cuddles' smile widened as he heard the excitement in Toothy's voice, and he soon felt Toothy hand sneaking over to his.

 _About then the music started to slow down and 'Faithfully' from Journey started playing._

"…..Y-You know the guy I was talking about? It….it was real-" Toothy started.

"You know." Cuddles interrupted, "I had originally promised Giggles that I'd save her a slow dance, but since she's not here." He stood up and extended a hand out towards Toothy. "Do you think you could do me the honor?"

Toothy stared at the hand then up at Cuddles. "A-Are you serious?"

"I mean, only if you want to."

"S-Sure!" Toothy took his hand.

Cuddles led him to the middle of the room. "Now I know you don't like to be the center of attention, but just focus on me and hopefully you'll forget about everyone else." He put a hand on Toothy's waist and held his hand with the other. "And if you still feel uncomfortable, remember we can stop at any time."

Toothy nodded as they started dancing. Eventually Cuddles put his other hand on Toothy's waist and pulled him closer. Toothy reacted by putting his arms around Cuddles' neck and resting his head on his shoulder as they started to sway.

"I…..I really like you a lot." Toothy finally mustered.

"I hoped so…cause…I think I may feel the same way."

"Wha- R-Really?" Toothy stared at him.

"Yeah, it was one of the reasons I was so glad to break it off with Giggles. That and I know you would never even dream of cheating on me."

"Yeah, only shitty people and Giggles do that." Toothy joked.

Cuddles chuckled, "Besides if you can't find a guy that treats you right, then I guess I'll just have to do it myself."

Toothy looked to the side and blushed.

Cuddles smiled at him, "By the way, did I ever get around to telling you how amazing you look tonight?"

"I'm sorry, what?"

"I mean, come on, you're obviously the best looking guy here." Cuddles complemented.

He blushed again. _I can't believe this is really happening._ "W-Well, y-you're not too bad looking yourself."

Cuddles laughed. "Well hopefully I meet your standards."

"Y-Yeah, you can say that."

Cuddles smiled and put a hand to Toothy's cheek. "We should have done this sooner."

Toothy leaned into it. "Trust me, I wish we had." He smiled as they started getting lost in each other's eyes.

"You know, I should have also done this earlier too."

"Done what?" Toothy asked.

"This." Cuddles leaned in and kissed Toothy's cheek.

Toothy turned beet red, peering to the side a bit as he squealed internally. "I-I think y-you missed." He finally mustered.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Cuddles smirked and raised an eyebrow.

He couldn't help it anymore, soon Toothy grabbed his shirt and pulled him into a kiss. Cuddles was startled by his sudden actions at first but quickly recovered as they started leaning into one another. It was everything Toothy dreamed it would be and more until a thought popped into his head. _Oh my God, what am I doing?!_ He quickly broke away. "I'm sorry! I-I shouldn't of-" Toothy turned his head and tried to push himself away.

"Hey, It's ok." Cuddles put a finger under Toothy's chin and guided his head back. "It was bound to happen anyway. Besides, I, um, don't think I got the full effect. So we should do it again, you know, just to be safe." Cuddles smirked a little.

"Um, w-well, I guess if you really want to." He slowly pulled into him into another kiss, this one more intimate than before. Cuddles wrapped his arms around him as he got lost in it. They eventually broke for air.

"Hey, uh, would you want to find somewhere more secluded?" Cuddles proposed then paused for a second and blushed. "You know, that probably sounded worse the-"

Toothy put a finger over Cuddles' mouth, "Yes, I would like that very much."


	10. Ch 10: Boyfriends- End

They eventually came across an unoccupied broom closet and went in. Cuddles closed the door behind them and turned towards Toothy. "Sorry, this probably isn't the most romantic-" Suddenly Toothy shut him up by pulling him into another kiss. Soon one became two, then two became five, until Cuddles pulled Toothy on top of him.

"If you feel uncomfortable about any of this, stop me, ok? I want you to know that you're in full control of the situation." Cuddles pulled him closer and caressed his face.

"Ok." Toothy nodded.

Cuddles wrapped his arms around him and pulled him in for another kiss. He slipped in some tongue and Toothy happily accepted. They made out a bit as they caressed each other. Finally Cuddles broke for air.

"It's getting kinda hot, would it be ok if I took off my jacket?"

"Yeah, that's fine." Toothy started taking off his own as well.

The second Cuddles was done, Toothy went in for another round. He wrapped his arm around his neck as Cuddles slowly moved his hands under Toothy's shirt. His touch gave Toothy goosebumps as he started to caress his back. Eventually Cuddles trailed off to Toothy's cheek and onto his neck.

Toothy's body stiffened. "…..Um…..H-Hey…..uh….."

"Too far?"

Toothy looked off to the side and held his own arm, "Well, I-It's just, when I was at Lifty's-"

"Hey, It's ok. You don't owe me an explanation. If you're uncomfortable with it, then I won't do it. It was the neck part, right?"

Toothy nodded.

"So cheeks are fine?"

Toothy chuckled a little. "Yes, cheeks are fine."

"Good, because I intend to kiss every freckle on your adorable face." Cuddles grabbed Toothy and started kissing away.

"Noooooo, Cuddles!" Toothy blushed and started pushing lightly. "We'll be here for hours if you do that!"

Cuddles took a long look at Toothy, "….Shit, you may be right." He kissed his cheek one more time and sat down against the door. "I guess I'll have to save the rest for later." He looked up at Toothy and patted the spot beside him.

Toothy sat beside him and laid his head on his shoulder. "…..I'm sorry I ruined the mood."

"Hey, you didn't ruin anything, ok?" Cuddles kissed his forehead. "And I'm glad you told me. I want you to know that you can trust me….. and that I'm not just some douche canoe only looking to get laid."

Toothy chuckled, "Did you just call Lifty a douche canoe?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Cuddles snickered as he held his hand. "There's also dick weed and Douchebag McGee if you'd like to take your pick."

"Although Douchebag McGee sounds tempting, I think I'll just stick with douche canoe for now." They stared at each other for a second then started laughing.

Cuddles let go of his hand and put an arm around Toothy. "So….This may be out of the blue, but can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"How long?"

"How long what?" Toothy raised an eyebrow.

"You know, how long did you have a crush on me?"

"Oh!...Um….w-well-" Toothy turned to the side and blushed as he mumbled. "M-Maybe like year or two…"

"Are you serious?! Why didn't you tell me?"

"Well….I-I thought you'd think it'd be weird and you wouldn't want to be my friend any more. That and then you started dating Giggles the first time and I felt like it'd just be awkward at that point."

"Toothy, you know I would of never stop being your friend, right? Especially over something like that."

"Yeah, but you know how I over-think things."

"Well, you don't have to worry about that anymore." Cuddles squeezed his shoulder. "Cause I don't intend on leaving you anytime soon." He kissed Toothy's cheek.

Toothy smiled and kissed his cheek back. They talked for a bit longer to the sound of muffled music. Eventually Toothy ended up drifting off and Cuddles soon followed.

They slept for a few hours until the door suddenly opened, causing them to wake up as they hit the floor. Cuddles rubbed his head, "Dude! What the-!" He looked up as they both locked eyes with Evil. They rapidly scrambled to their feet, "IT'S NOT WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE!" They yelled in unison.

Evil laughed, "Calm down. You aren't in trouble or anything. I'm just going around and making sure everyone knows the prom will be over in a few. Hell, at least you two are actually dressed."

Cuddles blushed and quickly started grabbing the jackets off the floor. "Um, T-Thank you, sir."

"No problem, just makin' sure no one gets trapped in here." He started to walk away but Cuddles stopped him.

"Hey, wait!" He yelled.

Evil turned around. "What?"

"By any chance do you know what happened to Lifty?" Cuddles asked.

"Oh, Lifty? Let's just say you don't have to worry about him anymore."

"YOU KILLED HIM?!" Toothy screeched as he clung to Cuddles' arm.

"WHAT?! I know I'm tough on you guys, but do you really think I'd KILL one of you?!"

"…..Uhhhhhh." Both of them shifted their eyes to the side.

"No, I did not KILL Lifty! I handed him over to the principal. I know he got expelled, but I'm unsure if the police got involved or not. Anyways, it's not my problem anymore." He shrugged. "That all?"

"Yes, sir." They said in unison.

"Good." Evil turned around and rolled his eyes, "Damn teens, thinking I would even-" He grumbled on as he left.

Cuddles waited until Evil was gone then lightly punched Toothy's arm, "Nice going, Evil's probably gonna be extra hard on you when Monday comes around. I bet he'll make you do never ending suicide drills or something like that."

"You don't know that!" Toothy took his jacket and put it back on. "Maybe he'll actually start going easy on everybody from now on."

"Well, we can dream." Cuddles put on his own jacket and they held hands as they walked out of the building.

Toothy looked around the parking lot when it suddenly dawned on him. "SHIT! Lifty was my ride!"

"No problem, I drove here!" Cuddles held up his keys. "I don't know what you're gonna do though. I guess you should go ahead and start walking now." He joked.

"Cuddlesss!" He clung to his arm, "You wouldn't let your boyfriend walk home in the dark, would you?"

"Boyfriend, huh? That's weird."

Toothy looked over in confusion, "What do you mean?"

"Just sayin, I don't exactly remember you asking me out." He looked over and smirked at Toothy. "So…"

"Huh? Oh, uhhhh." Toothy started blushing, "Then, um, I guess, w-will…. willyoubemyboyfriend?"

Cuddles chuckled, "I will on one exception."

"And what's that?"

"You have to promise that you aren't doing this just so you can get a ride home." He joked.

Toothy laughed, "Ok fine, pinky promise."

"Then yes, I'll be your boyfriend." Cuddles then leaned over and kissed his cheek as they intertwined fingers and headed to the car.


End file.
